Approximately 5,000 Christian leaders from many different denominations are going to Florida for a conference focused on helping to grow and plant new churches.

Known as the Exponential Conference, the multiday church leadership event will take place at First Baptist Church of Orlando from Feb. 26 to March 1.

Exponential co-founder Todd Wilson told The Christian Post in an interview on Tuesday that the theme for this year’s conference, “Hero Maker,” is centered on the idea of having church leaders focus more attention on supporting new leaders.

“We realized speed of the leader, speed of the team. If we’re going to see multiplying churches, we’ve got to see multiplying leaders,” explained Wilson.

“We’ve got to see leaders themselves multiply, and part of that is to move the scorecard from leaders seeing themselves as the hero, to making heroes of others, multiplying others. It’s just another way of going at the leaders who multiply leaders.”

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Evangelist Billy Graham passed away this morning at his home in Montreat, North Carolina from natural causes, according to a family spokesperson. He was 99.

Graham was known and beloved worldwide for his evangelistic crusades. He also was the founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association which consists of resources for growing your faith as well as answers Graham gave to readers’ questions, and much more.

Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian ministry headed by Graham’s son, Franklin Graham, had this remembrance on their page this morning:

“Blessed are those who die in the Lord…that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them” (Revelation 14:13).

According to the Huffington Post, at 16 Graham was converted after attending revival meetings. He went on to be ordained in 1939. He married Ruth McCue Bell in 1943. They had six children together, two of which are the also well-known Rev. Franklin Graham and Anne Graham Lotz, the founder of AnGeL Ministries.

Graham’s influence extended across the globe, and his evangelistic crusades and gospel preaching brought him into contact with many world leaders and influencers, including multiple American presidents, Martin Luther King Jr., and Queen Elizabeth II.

As NPR notes, “He preached to more than 200 million people in 185 countries, counseled presidents, and led mass religious rallies that featured…

Famed evangelist the Rev. Billy Graham passed away from natural causes this morning at his home in North Carolina. He was undoubtedly one of the most influential people, and certainly Christian figures, of all time.

He influence extended around the globe and his platform allowed him to meet with world leaders from American presidents to Martin Luther King Jr. to Queen Elizabeth II. 

But at the heart of his ministry was his passion for the Gospel and his commitment to spreading this Good News around the world. He was known as “America’s pastor.”

Today, so many people are mourning his death, but we are also rejoicing that he is in heaven with the Lord. Here is what Christian leaders had to say in response to this news:

“An epic era of evangelical history has come to an end. Billy Graham was not only a titanic figure in evangelicalism, but in world history and perhaps represents the last of a kind. He dominated 20th century American evangelicalism and remained a major figure on the world stage throughout most of the 20th century in a way that we can envision no evangelical leader in our times,” wrote Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in an article titled “Mohler on Graham” ‘An epic era of evangelical history has come to an end.’“

Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission for the Southern Baptist Convention,…

Billy Graham died Wednesday at the age of 99. The world renowned evangelist, who has been listed on Gallup’s most admired list 61 times since 1955 — more than any other person — passed away peacefully at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, after struggling with various health problems linked to his advanced age.

In a statement to The Christian Post, Will Graham, the grandson of Billy Graham (whose full name is William Franklin Graham Jr.) and the son of Franklin Graham, said:

“My grandfather once said, ‘One day you’ll hear that Billy Graham has died. Don’t you believe it. On that day I’ll be more alive than ever before! I’ve just changed addresses.’ My friends, today my grandfather moved from the land of the dead to the land of the living,” Will Graham declared.

“We mourn that he is no longer with us physically here on earth, but we don’t grieve as those who have no…